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Hey guys! Now with 0.0.8 out, which fixes the minor bugs found in 0.0.8 I am also happy to announce that Holds is available for the Special Edition.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/10609/?

The new update brings with it many fixes, chief among them: CTD near Solitude, near Falkreath, during dragon combat within Falkreath and Dawnstar, and many other fixes.

Read more about it here.

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It updates the design, giving Solitude a new exterior look. The tunnel entrance from the main gate has been replaced with a long district with many new buildings which includes a public bath, a blacksmith, a butchery, and more to come in the future. The Solitude docks have been placed within its own worldspace which improves stability and prevents crashes. The dock therefor has gates leading to the pier's and road but I feel that this is a minor sacrifice to make for its trade-off.

The new update also updates the design of Falkreath and Dawnstar, in Falkreath esspecially giving it a more nordic feel while keeping the Colovian theme consistent. The gates in and out of the city have been reworked completely making it possible to get carts into the city. The buildings have been reworked upping the quality quite a bit while also cutting down on the heavyweight work from the previous mesh and thereby actually improving stability.

Dawnstar has improved buildings, a fix to the weird crash that occures while traveling to the Salty Alley at night and some minor tweaking to the Whitehall longhouse.

Both Dawnstar and Falkreath have been granted unique new doors which further builds on establishing a unique feel and look for the cities. Falkreath uses doors similiar to the ones found in Chorrol in Oblivion.

The update also tweaks some of the custom clutter used in the cities. For instance the forge in Falkreath.

The update also adds signs to the many shops and public interiors around Skyrim. This does not include Riften, Whiterun and Windhelm I'm afraid but will in the future.

Important update to installation of Holds in 0.0.8. Please Read!

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When installing 0.0.8 its important that you overwrite everything with the fixes within, and that you install both the Complete with the esp, Lod and facemaps, and then the resources, meshes and textures and scripts. Once that's done you have to install the compatibility patches again as these have also been updated to work with the new exterior worldspaces.

Do Note: The performance patches are no long compatible with 0.0.8 as goes for the Skip the Solitude Tunnel plugin!

If your playing on an old save using Holds do not install 0.0.8 and load a save which is in Dawnstar or Falkreaths exterior worldspace. Run into a building or outside. Or somewhere else. Install the new update. Clean the save game with the save game cleaner:http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31724/?

And then load your saved game. Save your game again, and load that save. Now you should be ready to continue your adventure!

Plans going forward

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Now that 0.0.8 is out I do intend to continue support and hopefully receive a lot of feedback on the content of this update. What works, what doesn't etc...

A minor update will come shortly including heavier snow builds on the rooftops of Dawnstar. This will be an optional. I was going to include this in 0.0.7 as an optional but I fear I missed the deadline which was at the 15th of June, and felt it was more important to get this update out now rather then later.

Seeing as this update makes Holds a lot more stable I intend to return to the quest and dialogue development which is way overdue(10 quests are in the update, as well as dialogues for every NPC added in Holds- however still requires more/better writing as well as bug fixes to the quests, and perhaps the addition of some more interesting quests as personally I think that out of the 10 only 3 or 4 are genuinely interesting or provides a unique challenge to the player).

On the side however I also intend to start working on Morthal which during the development of 0.0.8 went through a brainstorming and concept development and I have an idea of how it can look. Morthal will remain an open city for those who are wondering and will not be as grand or big as other cities worked on by Holds. A unique design, some new buildings and a few new NPC's and clutter. Nothing amazing but at least a new design

Winterhold will also be given an update, preferably as early as 0.0.9 or 0.0.10. Winterhold has gone through some concept development and brainstorming and we've decided to work out the city from scratch(The Exterior). The city will be fully modeled as Pre-collapse before backed up and then provided with a collapsed version. The layout of the current buildings and some of the rubble will mostly remain the same as in 0.0.8 but with a less European design and something more a mix between the College of Winterhold's design and something nordic-esque.

I also intend to expand Windhelm a bit adding an extra district next to the Fighting pits, this area is mostly flat and unused anyway. What this district will include is not yet fully decided.

There are currently no development in concept or brainstorming for anything for the remaining towns: Kynesgrove, Dragonbridge, Darkwater Crossing or Markarth. I do want to model some unique buildings for some of the settlements added in Holds: Wintergate, Amber Guard and Dunbarrow. But for now this remains a low-priority.

Holds will be coming to the Skyrim Special Edition. Despite lacking a SKSE, some mod-users have requested a version and I will of course provide it

The reason why I haven't done so yet is that I had problems making the Holds legendary version update and work with the SSE. Falkreath for instance would become a No-go Zone filled with CTD's and with very little knowledge of why this was, I decided to drop it and focus on further developing the mod instead. With 0.0.7 re-implementing Falkreath from scratch I am willing to give it another go!

The modular version of Holds has not seen an update since release. It rests on the 0.0.1 version. This is because developing on the complete is easier and then splitting the mod into multiple modular versions afterwords, but which as it stands: Is a lot of work and something only one member who has not been working with us for quite some time now could do. Once Morthal and Winterhold have been updated I will look into updating modular though I must point out that modular will not have quest and dialogue support due to how the quests have you traveling to various new locations in various of different cities.

Incase you've not heard. Beyond Skyrim is releasing the Bruma county of Cyrodiil. Here is their latest video. Release is schedueled for the 1st of July!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G5RucTQkHY

My thoughts on the new Creation Club and what that means for the future development of Holds.

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I'll add this comment here just as a sticky due to some foreseen upcoming changes to Skyrim Modding.

Bethesda has announced the return of paid modding and will be doing this through something called the Creation Club. Now this system works in the same way as say... the Cartel market in SWTOR or any other micro-transaction systems in MMO's, just now for mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4. While Bethesda tries to spin their language in a way that makes it seem like this is not paid modding, it very much is. You can purchase Bethesda currency and then spend it on mods on their system. While this system seems 'way' more tolerable then the system they unleashed through the Steam workshop it is still a return to paid modding. Mods that have already been uploaded for free (Guessing on Bethesda nets system, and not the Nexus) will not be allowed to be uploaded through the Creation Club, and we do not know what mods will be pulled and re-uploaded and which will not, but on a positive note: Mods will have quality assurance from Bethesda, and some of the mods uploaded will be worked on by Bethesda themselves which leaves me a little curious as to what we can expect. With that said this system keeps me hopeful that abandon/paused mods like Luftahraan, Rochebere will make a return to development.

This system will be released this summer, and while I hope most upcoming projects will not utilize this, I can point out that Beyond Skyrim which I'd think all of us are looking forward to will not be utilizing this and will remain free.

Holds has been a project I've been working on for a long time and especially with this last update that will release this summer I feel as though I've worked myself to the bone trying to up the quality and fix the issues that has been plaguing it. Holds will however always remain free. This has always been the attitude that I've embraced modding Skyrim with. While modding is free, sharing assets and helping one another with a project remains solely based on the incentive of wanting to create something to a game that we love playing. My main fear right now is that with an incentive of money introduced to the mix, asset contributors might retract many of the assets that have been shared with this project, and that voice acting (when we get to this point) will be hesitant with working for a project that will not be paying them either in a one-time transaction or in a long-term revenue stream.

I will of course continue working on this project, its become a part of my daily routine but I just wanted to post this here to both share the news with the Creation Clubs paid modding, my views on it, and to assure mod users that this project will remain free.

I hope everyone is having a nice summer and are looking forward to future updates

As always I very much appreciate feedback, even the criticism as long as its constructive as it helps me improve!

Long time no see! I apologize for the silent-months but I've been very busy, first with moving out on my own which was a big step, but then also having to help out as my parents moved into a new house. I have continued work on Holds naturally, but I've also taken a bit of a break, which paid off. I've added dialogue to every NPC with the exception of Dawnstar and the villages. This is because the villages will be heavily story-driven and will require those quests to be developed to fresh out what stages should allow what dialogue.

I've just finished creating custom building assets for the village of Wintergate, (Essentially the Riften building style with hay roofs, simplified wood, removal of windows and ceiling openings to make them less modern and far more simple).

The next update will be the last level-design update which will include changes to Markarth, Morthal, a possible re-design of Dawnstar(Not a big deviant from the current get-up but different), and an additional district to Windhelm near the fighting pit, and a small farming community near the Chillfurrow farm which will include the Wintersand Manor.

I'll be continuously working on the quest and dialogue plugin while mapping this out but with the dialogue mostly finished the main focus will be on the last level-design followed by (finally) the update to the modular-plugins

Coming back into Skyrim after a months break I saw my work with new eyes and it made me consider re-designing Dawnstar. As much as I like the dark-medieval-town design, I think the critics are right, it really feels out of place in Skyrim. Coupled with the quest stories we have for the city, themes and etc... I feel as though it needs a re-design, but still feels as a proper dock town. Seeing as we're re-doing Winterhold, a city of refined stone architecture, perhaps Dawnstar should be simpler. Perhaps if we downsize the buildings a little, usually the attics are empty-spaces anyway, instead of black Windhelm stone we go for the same riverwood stacked rocks as we did in Falkreath, and as a final touch add dragon-heads or something of carved wood to the building tops. My main fear is that this will make Dawnstar feel too similar to Falkreath, though I fully intend to keep the whitish wood coupled with the dark bark wood, as well as not going for hay roofs. I am considering re-doing the towers of Dawnstar, simplifying them a bit, and moving the Jarl's court to his longhouse, rather then "the Dark Tower" as before. I do like the design of the old towers and will definitely use them in some capacity in the future, but perhaps for Dawnstar they feel a bit too European. I would love to get you guys input on this, what you would like a potential Re-design of Dawnstar to be like, does the idea's I've outlined above make it sound too similar to Falkreath. Please comment below.

Either way it is very exciting and I'm looking forward to the next unveiling of our development cycle

Hey everyone! For those who have read the comments all the way through, you know I've posted several long-winded descriptions of my journey through Holds with lots of screen caps for you to look at. Unfortunately, Photobucket has decided to cut the "free" bandwith limit rather drastically. This means that my photos will be either blurred and watermarked or simply removed. I'm not sure which they will do. Because I had flooding damage in my house when a tree smashed through my roof, I lost a LOT of the original images (both my computer AND the more recent backup storage drive got soaked) -this means a lot of those images will disappear permanently after May 31st. Sorry about that.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen my screen caps and descriptions, I would encourage you to do so now and save any of the screen caps you like before they're gone.

Galandil, I would especially like to invite you to save those screen caps for future use when you update your mod pages. Feel free to use any of them in any way.

Thanks Ledd! Sorry to hear about your home, I hope you and your family are alright and that you will recover quickly from the accident

Working on a big update to the project, and when its out a lot will look very different to how it looks now, would you be interested in perhaps doing another tour of Holds? I really enjoyed your last one.

Might just be me, but Falkreath is utterly broken. There are floating mounds of dirt meaning you can't get through doors and can see through the map. Jarl Siddegir sleeps in a room way out of the cell and his steward is over there permanently.

Hi, im planning on to use this mod in the future cause it looks really neat, just wondering if it will be compatible with a big mod list? Also will this be compatible with Open Civil War as they have stated that mods overhauling cities can confuse soldiers. Also when will the new update be released really looking forward to it.

Right now its not worth downloading , its buggy as hell.For example many citizens are without clothes , some have missing texture clothes.And I cant travel to the Solitude by carriage or boat - infinite loading screen.Unfortunately.+ I really dont like that there are so much loadings , lol you made half of the cities / areas accesibble with loading , thats a huge minus IMO.

I want to know the same thing. Sadly most people really do not care about that mod, and don't understand the immense immersion it brings. Most are content with loading into a city, which even before I knew about open cities would kill my immersion, even back in 2011 when the game first released AND I DIDNT MOD AT ALL. Bethesda has no excuse for such foolery, as in morrowind loading into cites was not a thing. Hopefully someone answers our question though, but for now open cities goes beyond any city mod for me.

Unless there is a patch for Open Cities, then no, it would not be compatible with this mod. Open cities is really a chicken wire and duct tape solution though (nothing against Arthmoor, the engine is just wonky). The cities are literally reproduced in the exterior and all NPC's are moved into it. In doing so some elements don't translate well (like the pick pocket scheme in riften which makes you use a rock to teleport in and out of the two versions of the city for the scene because the game simply won't allow the mod to alter it to be in the open city space (how's that affect your immersion?). Load screens are a fact of life people, stop letting them "ruin your immersion". I do like the idea of being able to ride into town, that is cool, but it's not a fair tradeoff to have to patch half a dozen or more mods as a result.

The reason for large cities being in their own space in Skyrim is an engine limitation. Basically any time you are remotely near an Open Cities affected town, all the NPC's AI packages are running and they are all pathing and taking up memory, which as we know Skyrim has major problems with, especially on a large load order with many moving parts. The reason this isn't an issue for Morrowind is that the NPC's didn't do anything but wander around really. They didn't sandbox in the same manner that they do in Oblivion or Skyrim, so they didn't really need enclosed cities like that.

You have it listed that the compatibility patch is under the files section for Skyrim Flora, although you only have the one file available? Is this located elsewhere, coming soon, not available etc thank you for your help